family

First-time novelist Wendy Ranby was born and raised in Rothsay, New Brunswick, but now calls Tottenham Ontario home. Under the Floorboards is a Young Adult (YA) novel, but I found it to be a very good read, so hopefully, parents, as well as their children will enjoy it.

Under the Floorboard (2018, Chocolate River Publishing) is the story of Aileen, the teen daughter of Hugh and Gloria.… Continue reading

In writing hundreds of reviews over the past few years, I have discovered that some books result in a quickly written review while others linger on my read-but-waiting-to-be reviewed table. Refuge by Merilyn Simonds was such a book. Here it is November, and it is about three weeks since I finished reading it.… Continue reading

As with any university town, Kingston, Ontario has its fair share of writers that call the Limestone City home: Diane Schoemperlen, Merilyn Simonds, Steven Heighton and many more. Add Adrian Michael Kelly to the list. His newest book, The Ambassador of What (2018, ECW Press) is a collection of stories, some previously published, but many appearing in print for the first time.… Continue reading

Jeannette Lynes’ new book about The Small Things That End the World (2018, Coteau Books) begins with two BIG things: Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In between these two monumental storms plenty of “little things” happen to the three main protagonists, Sadie Wilder, Faith Crouch and her daughter Amber.… Continue reading

There must be something in the water in Nova Scotia. Literally. Here is an absorbing debut novel by Nicola Davison, a Dartmouth resident who mentored under no less a personage than that wonderful novelist Carol Bruneau, another Nova Scotian writer that you may have heard of.… Continue reading

I believe I may have found a new “favourite” writer in Dian Day. I recently read her new book The Madrigal (clicking the link will take you to another site) and I was very impressed by it. It was an intriguing read about the life of Frederick, the seventh son (all the other six were twins) and the issues he had to deal with growing up and some that haunted him up to his adult life.… Continue reading

“If you’re a storyteller, it’s your job to make it a story that wants to be told. Where we come from, the one who always keeps the stories is the granddaughter.” Then she murmured, “You can be that granddaughter to me.” In response to the confusion she read on my face, she continued in a less conspiratorial tone, “Don’t worry, they’ll be good stories.”

The Light a Body Radiates comprises a good story in its 280+ pages.… Continue reading